


The Sound of her Wings

by Light_Thistle



Category: DCU (Comics), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Sandman (Comics)
Genre: Gen, hints of Karadox
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:22:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29346558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Light_Thistle/pseuds/Light_Thistle
Summary: Querl dies trying to save his friends from Leviathan. There's someone there waiting for him.
Relationships: Querl Dox & Death of the Endless
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	The Sound of her Wings

Querl Dox of Colu, a proud member of the Legion of Superheroes, finally stopped feeling his arms. And with that he lost all sensitivity of his body.

The strangest thing is that he had not lost control of his mind. At least the radiation had not affected his most valuable possession, he had always feared dying mindless, unable to think clearly. It was the only comfort he had left after realizing that his sacrifice would not be enough to help his friends. _No_ , he thought of a sudden burst of anger. _I won’t die here in this pathetic casino. I refuse to let Lex manipulate me. I have to find him,_ he thought as he tried to force his body to move, but the power of his privileged mind was suddenly not enough to move his fingers. _I won’t let him win!_

“Need a hand?”

In front of his eyes, above him, appeared the face of a girl with dark eyes and messy black hair, with a kind smile on her calm face. He briefly considered the idea of being hallucinating, before dismissing it as absurd.

“It’s okay, Brainy. Take it easy. I’ll help you stand up, alright?”

Before he could say anything, the girl leaned towards him and helped him to get up, holding him by the hip and shoulder. Standing felt strange, he still could not feel his body but at least the pain was gone. Brainy took a moment to observe his unexpected and strange savior. She was young, wearing black clothes similar to the rock singers Alex liked so much. But an irrational thought was trapped deeply in his mind. The illogical certainty that he already knew her, despite being sure he had never seen her.

“Do you feel a little better?”

The question caught him by surprise, but he nodded immediately. “Yes, enough to walk.” Querl was about to open his mouth to ask who she was, only to close it immediately, something primitive, crude, that he could only describe as instinct ordering him to leave immediately. “I have to find my friends.”

“Brainy, you don’t-”

“I have to go.”

Querl turned to leave, beginning to think of a plan to attack Lex. But he stopped at that moment when he saw his own body lying on the floor, green blood staining his mouth, eyes open without looking, motionless. He stepped back in horror when he finally realized what was going on. At the end it had been too late. No one had come to save him, the radiation had killed him.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No, not yet. This can’t be happening.”

“I’m sorry, Brainy,” said the girl dressed in black with empathy. “It rarely happens the way people want, but that doesn’t make it easier to process.”

Brainy stared at her then, resisting the tears that fought for escaping from his eyes. He studied her as if she were the most important thing in the universe and he needed to understand it. “You are a god of death,” he said, feeling slightly comforted in his logic. “And you’re here because I’m dead.”

“I’m not a god of death, Querl, but I’m flattered you think I look like a god,” she said smiling. “I’m Death, nothing more and nothing less.”

“Death?”

“An anthropomorphic personification of a concept almost as old as time.”

“I can’t die yet, I have to save my friends.”

“I’m afraid not, Brainy,” she said looking at him sadly. “There’s nothing you can do anymore.”

“I need a Lazarus Pit,” he said, ignoring her, looking around the room as if there were a pit hidden there. “No, the Crisis erased them all. I need magic. That magician, Mr. Constantine, he will know how to help me.”

“Magic can’t bring you back to life, Brainy.”

“Then you do it!” he exclaimed, too desperate to control his emotions. “Just a moment! I have to warn Kara. I have to apologize to Nia. I have to…” The words got stuck in his throat, painful in his chest. A couple of tears ran down his cheeks. “I have to say goodbye. I can’t leave without thanking them, without apologizing. I have to say goodbye.”

Death was silent, just looking at him compassionately, raising her hand to stroke his wet cheek with her ridiculously warm hand. Querl could not stop staring at her, wondering why she remained in silence, why she did not get mad at his weakness or just take him away.

“That’s not going to happen, is it?” Brainy shook his head. “I’ve been away from my friends the last few months, lying to them, and I can’t fix it anymore because I’m dead, right there, covered in my own blood. I’m dead and I can’t tell them what happened. And you know what? It’s not fair!” he yelled angrily. “What about all the good I’ve done? Am I really going to die alone in this absolutely unpleasant evil lair? Really? Is that all I get?”

“You get what everyone gets, Brainy,” said Death squeezing his shoulder. “A lifetime.”

Slowly the pain in his chest began to dissipate, to be replaced by a bitter resignation. “Is there really nothing I can do?”

“I’m not going to lie to you, some people do come back from the dead. Sometimes it happens. It’s not a big deal, as you’ll guess I have a lot of work,” she said with a shrug. Querl could not help but smile for less than a second. “Everyone ends up coming back to me sooner or later anyway.”

“Then I can still go back.”

“It doesn’t depend on you,” she smiled slightly. “Maybe Kara will make the decision to try to get you back. Maybe she’ll let you go. But either way your time is up, Querl.”

“I don’t think I’m important enough for Kara to try to get me back,” he said ruefully. Accepting the fact that he was no longer in control of his own existence was easier when he had no choice. “What happens now? Where are you taking me?”

“Well, I’m not sure.”

“Hard to believe.”

“I’m Death, Brainy, I’m impartial. I don’t decide what happens to you. You know that the afterlife exists. Heaven, hell, Colu’s Collective Brain. But I don’t decide where are you going. My job is to help you to find out for yourself.”

“This is really happening.”

Death nodded, extending her hand. “Take my hand, Brainy. It’s time to go.”

Querl knew, from the bottom of his heart, that he could refuse to go with her. He could simply not take her hand. Fight a little more to stay.

But he was dead. There was nothing left to stay for. Nothing he could do. No way his exceptional mind could save him from the one thing that was universally inevitable. So he spent a few seconds thinking about his friends, remembering a bright smile and a pair of beautiful blue eyes, and then took that absurdly warm hand, suddenly hearing a curious sound similar to the movement of wings before allowing himself to fade into oblivion.


End file.
